Therapy Falls Short in Healing

People with uncontrolled diabetes are prone to foot ulcers, wounds that are hard to heal. Some past evidence has suggested that putting the foot inside a high-pressure chamber containing 100 percent oxygen can promote healing, but a new large study does not support the use of these chambers in wound healing. Researchers tracked more than 6,000 people with diabetes and foot wounds, some whose doctors chose oxygen-chamber treatment and others who got alternate types of care. They found that those receiving oxygen therapy were no more likely to heal than those who had regular care. In fact, oxygen may have been harmful: Those treated with oxygen were more than twice as likely to undergo amputations as those who were not. Source: Diabetes Care, published online Feb. 19, 2013